Our Executive Committee
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Ashley Hoover - President
Ashley Hoover has been a member of PAFP since 2014 and joined the Land O’ Lakes Dairy Field Representative team in 2019. Prior to that she was worked employed by MD- VA Milk Producers Cooperative. Ashley is a Penn State graduate with a degree in Agricultural and Extension Education and holds a minor in Animal Science. She resides on her husband’s family dairy farm with their son.
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Sonya Radel - President Elect
Sonya is a Field Representative for Dairy Farmers of America, dealing in on-farm milk quality and troubleshooting as well as completing Animal Care, Environmental Stewardship and Workforce Development Surveys through the FARM Program in Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania. She has been in this role with DFA for about 2 years now. She is a graduate of Delaware Valley University where she majored in Agribusiness and minored in Dairy Science and Livestock Science. This is where her love for the dairy industry flourished and she had the opportunity to participate in numerous dairy clubs, classes and internships as well as play collegiate field hockey. After graduation she began my career in the dairy industry and began attending PAFP. She have been attending the conference since 2018 and joined the planning committee in 2022, and she is looking forward to being a part of the executive committee.
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Greyson Smith - Vice President
Greyson has been in the Dairy Industry for his entire life. He started working on his grandparent’s farm as a young boy. Later, he graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with an Animal Science degree. His career with Land O’Lakes Inc. began in 2018 as a Field Staff Member, and he services members of the Co-op in PA, NJ, DE, and MD. Once coming on with Land O’ Lakes Inc. he began participating in PAFP. Other organizations he is a part of are the Southeast PA Inspectors and Lab Group where he is currently the president and hold a seat on the PA FFA Foundation board as well. He enjoys working with the members on a daily basis and spend a great deal of time on farms. Most of his work revolves around Regulatory and milk quality but other sides of the job now include FARM evaluations and Sustainability audits. He appreciates what PAFP does for the PA dairy industry and look forward to serving on the Board for the next few years.
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Rebecca Fultz - Treasurer
Becca Fultz began participating in the PAFP planning meetings in 2022 & has offered to serve as the organization’s treasurer in 2023. Becca has been with Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (MDVA) since 2016 as a Field Representative & was promoted to Field Program Specialist in December 2022. In this role, Becca still performs Field Rep duties while also providing standards, education, leadership, & direction for MDVA’s staff & members on strategic & initiative targeted programs to benefit the cooperative. Becca grew up in the dairy industry of Crawford County where she was active in many facets of 4-H & other extracurricular programs. She currently resides in Dauphin County. Becca holds an A.A.S. in Dairy Science from Morrisville State College & a B.S. in Animal Science from The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to her time with MDVA, she worked for Pennsylvania Farm Bureau & Dauphin County Conservation District.
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Nick Heindl - Secretary
Nick Joined PAMFES in 2018. He has been a member of the planning committee and has not taken over as the secretary in the Executive Committee. He currently works for Hershey’s as the Sanitation Manager at their flagship plant in Hershey, PA where they receive 30 bulk trucks of raw milk per day to make Hershey’s Milk Chocolate. Nick has been with Hershey’s since 2010 and has held various roles throughout the organization and has worked in Hazleton, Memphis, and Hershey. He brings over 18 years of experience in the food industry. He has traveled the US, Canada, and Mexico working with plants to improve food safety and food quality.
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Kerry Kaylegian - Faculty Advisor
Dr. Kerry E. Kaylegian is an Associate Research Professor at the Penn State, Department of Food Science. Kerry provides technical support to the dairy industry and delivers outreach programs focused on improving the safety and quality of dairy products domestically and internationally. Kerry directs and lectures in short courses on dairy preventive controls and food safety, cheese making, dairy basics for small-scale dairy processors, pasteurizer operations, and cultured products, and assists with the ice cream courses. She is the faculty advisor for PAFP and the PA Cheese Guild, and is on the Board of Directors for the American Cheese Society. Her degrees are in Food Science with an emphasis on dairy products, she has a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. and post-doctoral fellowship from Cornell University.